New Delhi: India witnessed a total of $1.77 billion equity investment in the form of foreign direct investment (FDI) in the non-conventional energy sector between April 2014 and September 2016, the Modi government said in an “Achievement Report” of its flagship Make in India initiative.

As per the data available, a majority of the bigger investments have come from Mauritius, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Japan, Germany, Spain, US and Seychelles. Under automatic route for projects of renewable power generation and distribution, 100 per cent FDI is allowed subject to provisions of the Electricity Act, 2003.

The government has revised its target of renewable energy capacity to 175 Gigawatt by end of 2022, making it the largest expansion plan in the world, providing plenty of opportunities for investors.

The UN Environment Program’s “Global Trends in Renewable Energy Investment 2016” report ranks India among the top ten countries in the world investing in renewable energy. The government plans to achieve 40 per cent installed capacity of power from non-fossil-fuel-based energy resources and reduce emissions by 33-35 per cent by 2030. According to the report, the renewable energy sector has witnessed the highest-ever solar power and wind power capacity addition since April 2014.

In the last two years, the world's largest 648-Megawatt solar power plant was commissioned in Tamil Nadu, a 157 per cent increase in solar power capacity addition was achieved, highest ever wind power capacity addition of 3,300 MW was carried out in 2015-16 and 34 solar parks of aggregate capacity of 20,000 MW were sanctioned for 21 states, the report said.

The report also added Rs 356.63 crore were released to Solar Energy Corporation of India for projects and over 31,000 solar water pumps were installed in 2015-16 and 501 MW grid connected solar rooftop projects have been installed in the country.

At the end of October 2016, cumulative capacity of 46.33 GW grid interactive renewable energy capacity has been installed in the country, which constitutes 15 per cent of the total installed power generation capacity of 307.69 GW.

The government said in order to further promote renewable energy, it has introduced various fiscal and policy initiatives such as accelerated depreciation, concessional custom duty, excise duty exemption and income tax holiday for 10 years.

Also, investment of Rs 5,000 crore has been approved for implementation of grid-connected rooftops systems over a period of five years up to 2020 under the National Solar Mission (NSM). A capital subsidy of 30 per cent of the project cost for general states and 70 per cent for special category states excluding industrial and commercial establishments is provided.

The government has also doubled the clean environment cess on coal, lignite and peat to Rs 400 per tonne, waived-off inter-state transmission charges and losses for wind and solar projects. It has also made provisions for rooftop solar and mandatory use of 10 per cent renewable energy under Mission Statement and Guidelines for development of smart cities.